•| Nefarious |•

20

"Here, you still remember the cords right?" Tyler handed Ben a guitar that sat in the corner of the bus, "Do I need to go over them one more time?" Everyone stared at Tyler in shock, usually he isn't this friendly with anyone more so teaching someone how to play guitar.

"What...?" He asked looking at everyone confused. "...You've become less of a jerk recently." Ashlyn shrugged her shoulders. "Was that supposed to be a compliment?" "I guess."

"It was nice of you to teach him how to play happy birthday since he can't sing. You don't seem like the type to play guitar." I commented to Tyler, "...I'm not, but I do know a few songs our dad taught us. Happy birthday just happened to be one of them. Anyways, how much time is left?"

Logan opened up his phone and looked down at the screen, "Um...about two minutes." Aiden looked back at Ashlyn from his position, "We're still going into town, right?"

"Yeah, since that's what Logan suggested we do." Logan explained about the distance in the phantom world doesn't change the human world but we don't know about the opposite way around, tonight we're going out to test the theory and hope we can have a good estimate.

We all laid down on the bus relaxing, getting ready to shift to the phantom world. Around me everything buzzed, the lighting changed, and overall the whole mood changed. We now shifted successfully like we have for the past months.

We loaded everything we could into the car just in case, first aid, weapons, you name it we brought it. "Was that the rest of the backup supplies?" Ashlyn looked over to Aiden who was at the back of the jeep. "Yup!" "Then we're good to go."

We all piled into the car, Aiden stood next to the car to push the button while Ashlyn drove, Tyler, Ben and Taylor in the middle row while me and Logan sat in the back.

I looked towards the back window mentally preparing myself for what's bound to happen next, what Tyler said to me before this still buzzed through my mind. Did he say it because he felt guilt? I wasn't sure because we haven't talked about it since, but that's not my main worry right now, my main worry is making sure everyone is safe.

"Everyone have their lights ready?" Ashlyn called from the front looking back at us, "Yeah..." Taylor said as she shook a little with fear.

Ashlyn spoke with Aiden before slamming onto the gas and shooting the jeep forward, I got throw a bit from the force but regained my balance quickly. We drove out of the gate while Ashlyn loudly honked her noise so Aiden could quickly get into the car.

Once Aiden was in Ashlyn stepped on the gas again and bolted away from the graveyard. "Are they following?" Ashlyn yelled trying to pay attention to the road, "Yeah but they aren't keeping up." I yelled back at her so she could hear.

"Okay Logan, we're driving two hours out right? To the next town?" "Yes me and my grandparents go there often to the antique shops, so I'm familiar with the location and how to get there. I'm not sure if it'll be far enough away, but I think it's a good place for us to start."

We drove in silence for half an hour, flashing our lights out the window in case of a phantom popping out of no where and attacking us. Aiden complained to Ashlyn about music while she denied him down. "Once you pass the school, you'll take a right." Logan called up to Ashlyn while she said "Okay."

The phantoms so far have been thinning out, definitely not as many as when we got the jeep, it was making me worry but surely it's nothing. We took a right turn at the school and continued our way down the road, we passed empty abandoned cars with no one in them. I wonder if people are driving in the real world and they're there or how would they have ended up on a used road in the real world?

Ashlyn quickly swerved the car away while we all yelped from the sudden jolt, "What was that for?" Tyler snarked at Ashlyn annoyed from the sudden movement. "There was a giant tree root in the road-?"

"That's strange...this road is usually well maintained." Logan said while another bump was hit sending us to the ground from our usually crouched position. "Are you sure this is the right road?" Ashlyn called back.

"I'm positive...there were never roots in the way." Logan stuck his head out the back window the get a better view of where we were going. "Ah! Yeah, there's the gas station we usually...pass." He paused mid sentence taking a good look at the area.

A gas station covered in vines was presented before us, definitely not how it would be in our regular dimension. "That's not good..." I muttered looking at the state of the building, "This is getting uncomfortable we should take a different road..." Ashlyn said to the group.

Ashlyn stepped on the gas making the whole car speed down the road, "Hey-! What's with the sudden speed." Tyler yelled at Ashlyn trying to slow her down. We hit a tree root again this time making everyone bounce up and fall back down on their seats, "Ashlyn, what are you doing?" I groaned from the sudden fall.

"Something...there's something in the trees." Her hands trembled along the steering wheel, I've never seen her so scared in my life so it has to be worse than and phantom. Suddenly the road disappeared and we ended up on a grass platform, "What happened to the road?" Taylor looked back to see the road leaving our view.

"Ashlyn, you should turn back! Obviously something isn't right-" Ashlyn cut off Tyler before he could finish speaking, "I cant.."

"Why not!?" I yelled getting worried of where we were going, "It's right behind us..." Her voice was low and full of worry, my head slowly turned to be met with a deadly creature, 100 times the size of a phantom, and crawling right towards us ready to eat us.